I've just finished...
Girls' Last Tour
Usually when I do this, I start from the beginning, however, I want to start from the last panel, as it is a message from the author themselves instead of an actual part of the story.
But I beg to differ, I don't think it was an OK job.
Girls' Last Tour is the story of two girls, Chiito and Yuuri, that aren't really the best pair, nonetheless, they are stuck together in a devastated world that has no hope remaining in it. Chii-san is a scholar wannabe that loves to keep tracks of things in her diary, as she is afraid to become like Yuu-san, a girl that cares too much about food and has a hard time remembering pretty much anything, even if she has already eaten or not. Alongside their iconic vehicle Kettenkrad, they struggle each and every single day to keep themselves alive, be it because of heat, food, water or the world around them, but regardless of how though it is, they still strive to see the next day.
As the story progresses, we get to learn more about Chii-san and her likings, dislikes, personality and interests. The same can be said about Yuu-san, but it is done in a complete different manner, as she is not really knowledgeable in things that aren't related to manual job, not even knowing how to read and having a very limited vocabulary, often having something be taught or explained by Chii-san, even so, I don't feel like this is a regular muscle and brains type of duo. They compliment each other in more ways than that, they understand the importance of helping each other and how the other one is best at their flaws, they understand each other probably better than themselves, so even tho they play a lot with each other, there is this kind of unspoken respect between them almost regardless of their situation.
Chii-san understands Yuu's-san more carefree perspective and that they have to avoid conflict due to their situation, their life's are on the line and to avoid conflicts between the only other person alive on the planet, is really the best choice she has, but not only that, it's something that she wants, it's a desire of her to maintain Yuu's-san friendship, not only because she would be alone, but because they are good friends, even tho they aren't the best match for each other. Yuu's-san perspective is, at the same time, hugely different but similar, she tries to understand the curious and studious nature of Chii-san and admires it to an extent, making questions about her knowledge and things around themselves, and doesn't disencourage her when she doesn't know something, Chii-san also feels safe enough around her to say when she doesn't know something, and a lot of times they start discussing about what it could be, "How do you read that", "How was it made?", "You think this canned fish was a rare thing to have?", "What do you think is the meaning of life?", "Why people believe in gods and religions".
Reading it is a bittersweet experience, it's both heart warming and saddening to follow their story, as they come and go, they do find themselves in a group of 3 every so often, but in the end, even when you strongly believe that it's going to stay like that, it doesn't, and they know it, it's only the two of them. This is what I believe is one of the reasons why they want to continue, even in the most miserable situation, they found strength to continue, as long as they are together, they can conquer the world, even if there is no world to be conquered. But once again, it is a hopeless world, and the ending, reflects that.
The ending is... Something, it is very fitting for the story, it is hopefull, but hopeless, it is warm, but cold, it is happy, but sad. When I finished this manga, I was crying reading through the last pages of it, but if I'm being honest, I'm not sure I was crying because I was sad, or because I was happy. I knew what would happen if I turned the page, but it still hit me off-guard, a little bit before the ending is also one of the heaviest scenes in the manga, the only moment where we see someone cry. A grieving cry for help, hopelessness fill the panels as they are slowly walking to the path they knew it would eventually come, but even so, they strive to continue regardless of it. Trying to find another happy day in their life.
When I started reading this, I was expecting none of this, it's very unique in what I delivers and how it delivers, even though it's a very saddening manga, I believe it is about the little happy things in life, and to once again quote the original author
"I drew this believing the same thing." 10/10
This became my favorite manga series.
